More Late-Inning Heroics For The Yanks

The Yanks trailed 3-2 when Joba left the game after a solid 4 2/3 of work. The kid really only made one mistake, a hanging 3-2 slider to Jose Guillen who now has 3 HR and 9 RBI in the past 2 games.

Abreu tied the game up on a ground out in the fifth, Giambi added a run on a long bomb in the sixth and A-Rod put it away with a double off the wall in 7th to score two more.

After showing no life in the first 40 or so games of the season, the Yanks have made a habit out of coming back and today was another prime example of what this lineup is capable of, one through nine.

This was the first game where Joba really looked like a starter out there. He went through the lineup the first time using mostly his fastball and slider, then broke out his third and fourth pitches later on. Here's an inning-by-inning breakdown of his work:

1st Inning (13 total pitches)

11 fastballs

1 curve

1 slider

2nd Inning (18 total pitches)

10 fastballs

1 curve

5 sliders

3rd Inning (26 total pitches)

13 fastballs

5 curves

7 sliders

1 change

4th Inning (9 total pitches)

7 fastballs

1 curve

1 slider

5th Inning (12 total pitches)

7 fastballs

2 curves

1 slider

2 change-ups

It was good to see Joba going to all four pitches, and the economical 4th inning was especially heartening. I think he's going to need to put some work in on his change, he seems to really slow down his arm speed and that's going to be a dead giveaway to opposing hitters. You need to take the speed off the ball with your grip on the ball and make your delivery look identical to your fastball. Otherwise, this was a very good outing and Joba appears to be well on his way to becoming a mainstay in the rotation, if not the Yankee ace.

Dan Geise picked up his first major league win with 2.2 innings of perfect relief. Veras and Mo combined to get the final 6 outs and seal the victory.

Another day game tomorrow with the Moose taking on Hochevar as the Yanks try to take the series.